Pleasant Color

Ansel Adams went to great lengths in his technical writing ( The Camera ) to distinguish photography from sensitometery - more of an art than a science. This article takes an old master at his word, and explores how to make attractive color using today's tools.

Introduction

In ancient times, a photographer would choose a type of film that renders color the way (s)he prefers. Velvia is famous for it's saturated look, while Provia was more neutral and life-like, although sometimes it can seem bland or flat. ( Galen Rowell asked "Who wants to take dull photos that will last 100 years?" )

Nowadays, descisions about color often take place in the computer. It still pays to start with a good exposure and proper white balance, though; a better starting point ultimately gives better results, and less time to produce them.

At right is the photo we'll use to explore the techniques in this article. This is a jpeg capture from a Canon D60, set to low contrast, saturation, and sharpness.

Saturation

Saturation refers to the intensity of color. The vibrant moss in the background and the milky soft water are the most saturated parts of the photo thus far.

Because saturation is the first tool under normal circumstances, we'll explore two different ways of applying it.

Photoshop provides a "Hue and Saturation" adjustment, shown at left, and it does a fair job. The tool is easy to use; just slide the middle bar until you like what you see. Turn the preview on and off a couple of times and compare the changes you're about to make against the original.

On the other hand, our old friend the Channel Mixer, also useful in black and white photography, can be used to saturate a color photo, too. Nothing found in nature is purely red with no green or blue, or pure green with no red and yellow. All natural colors are mixed, so we're going to play with the mix.

Specifically, we're going to make each channel a little bit more intense. Set the red channel's source to 110% red, -5 % blue, and -5 % green, as shown at right. Apply the same change to all three color channels; the blue source should be 110 % blue, -5 % red and -5 % green, and the green source should be 110 % green, -5 % red, and -5 % blue. As with all edits, do this with an adjustment layer.

While this is hard to distinguish from hue / saturation at small doses, it's more apparent when an image needs heavy editing.

Contrast

Contrast and tonality